covid-19 – SIFTSORT: BLOG | PRESS

Year-End Organizing: Digital Files Part II of III

Second in the series of posts on organizing for the new year.

We all have important documents that need safekeeping. The problem is that we don’t have access to these documents when we need them the most, say after a disaster, during a medical crisis, or in a travel emergency.
More than online storage, the Siftsort.com service allows households to securely organize, access, and share important family documents and records using various technology devices.
Users can access medical records, financial papers, or other family information securely over the Internet or by calling a Toll-Free Hotline.
Professionals such as doctors, accountants, and lawyers can securely view, contribute, and exchange information on behalf of the user.

While Siftsort.com is great for storing and securely sharing important documents with advisors, family and medical professionals, you certainly have digital documents that don’t need of that level of security.

As you go through your files, you may find some you need to add to your Siftsort.com account, which is free if you don’t have huge storage needs.

We do not use ‘shared’ cloud infrastructure, we use only dedicated servers and storage disks for further protection because we license our platform to financial companies, who prefer it that way.

Here are some ways to organize those non-critical documents now from Apartment Therapy:

“Everyone’s digital life and needs are different. Consider this a very basic guide on how to do a little digital cleaning and organizing of your computer in a couple of hours so you can have a system that runs a little smoother and so you can find files you need a little easier.

1. Backup now!

Before you start doing any deleting, fiddling, cleaning or sorting — backup everything important to you, whether in the cloud, by syncing with another computer or by using an external hard drive….

3. Design a file structure that works for you

There are many ways to structure the files on your computer. In fact, you can get fairly technical with this task (we like articles like this one and this one from Lifehacker). But if you’ve got all of your data files — photos, PDFs, text documents and more — cluttering your desktop, you could benefit from establishing and using a basic file structure — much like you would organize your paper files.
→ The starting point is deciding what your highest level folders are. These are the big parts of your life. From your photos, to work files, to finances to half-written sci-fi novels, these are the categories that will serve as the first portal into your digital life. (Some folks let these big folders live in “My Documents,” others stick them straight to the hard drive — just don’t put these folders on your desktop!)

→ Put all the free-floating files into the correct top level folders. Put any errant photos in the big photo folder. All taxes, bills and more in the finances folder. (Or whatever folders you’ve made for yourself).

→ Then, organize each big top level folder into smaller, more specific sub-folders, one at a time. Take it one folder at a time, and start putting files (or other folders) in an order that will make sense when you need to find them again. Consolidate existing folders so they begin to fit into your new, more organized file structure. Don’t be afraid to go deep with sub-folders. You don’t really want to have a folder with say, 1 file in it, but you don’t want to stop at folder that has like, 50 files in it. ”

New Year Organizing: Paper Part I of III

Now is a good time to go through your files and purge what you don’t need so you can start 2016 fresh. This is a first in a series of posts on organizing for the new year.

Paper files

As much as we might hate it, sometimes we need to have paper documents. As we get ready for tax season, we may have a combination of digital and paper files to work with. From Kiplinger.com a few years ago:

“As you finish up your tax return this year, take the opportunity to clean house. With a few key exceptions — mainly tax-related documents — you don’t need to keep all those papers. And if you’re willing to use online banking and create a digital archive of crucial records, you may even be able to go paper-free.

Before you dig into those piles of records and statements, invest in a shredder to guard against identity theft. And don’t skimp on the shredder….”

Or do as one of our friends did and have a glass of wine with a friend and a fireplace and burn the old documents in the fire with an “alternative shredding party” where they talked and fed the fireplace log. But make sure you really don’t need those papers!

Here is some information from a filing system called Freedom Filer that uses color coding to make filing and life easier:

“Set Up A Self-Purging Reference File System
Saving files for future reference is essential, but unless you create a maintenance-free reference system you’re going to find yourself constantly cleaning out your filing cabinet, having to set up new folders, and not having the right files at hand when you need them. The answer is to divide your filing cabinet into four sections, color-coded if possible: GREEN for monthly miscellaneous transactions, BLUE for tax-related transactions, RED for permanent family and property records, ORANGE/YELLOW for current policies, agreements, and up-to-date administrative files. You may set up an optional fifth section in PURPLE, for saving literature, articles, and notes. The main sections are called Monthly, Tax, Permanent, and Remove/Replace, and the optional section is called Resource….”

Estate Planning

While none of us really want to think about it, estate planning is an important part of financial planning. Siftsort.com can help you when you are planning with your advisors and family.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there are “25 Documents You Need Before You Die”

“It isn’t enough simply to sign a bunch of papers establishing an estate plan and other end-of-life instructions. You also have to make your heirs aware of them and leave the documents where they can find them.

Consider: At least 10 states have been investigating whether some of the country’s largest insurers are failing to pay out unclaimed life policies to beneficiaries. California and Florida have held public hearings on the issue….

The financial consequences of failing to keep your documents in order can be significant. According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, state treasurers currently hold $32.9 billion in unclaimed bank accounts and other assets. ”

Siftsort.com is perfect for making your heirs aware of your estate plan and the necessary documents with the secure sharing feature. Sign up today for your free Siftsort.com account and start using it. If you need more storage space, you can add it by using a credit card, plus get a dedicated fax line along with that additional space.

What Happens When Siftsortpro.com is Combined with Siftsort.com?

Friday Case Study: One of the ways professionals are using Siftsortpro.com is to work with their clients in a way that is secure, but simplifies all their lives and their work flow.

Instead of logging in to several different accounts, there is one secure login that allows the professional to securely share documents, store documents, chat and email with clients, allows them to send emails to all their clients at the same time, share information individually, and so on.

For example, an accountant sending our their year-end tax organizer can send out an email to all clients, saying “watch for an upcoming email with their individual tax organizer, print it out, put in a folder and then as year-end statements come in, put the statements in the folder and have it all together for a quick time to review and fill out.’

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, one CPA firm did this and saved over $50,000/year, allowing the employees to spend their time with clients instead of shuffling paper.

Then, they can send the individual tax planner to each individually either from a secure folder (if the client is a Siftsort.com user), or by sending a secure link to each client (if not using Siftsort.com).

Alternatively, they can even avoid the trouble of the paper files and if they are used to getting online statements form their bank, investment accounts and whatever else, they can upload to their individual Siftsort.com account and share that set of documents with their accountant. Then using the chat function, they can communicate with their tax professional in a secure environment instantly.

All of this is within a secure environment. When the two platforms are used with each other, the data and transmission of files never leaves our environment, or exposing itself to the Internet. Files are securely transferred from within our environment (server-to-server). As also mentioned in previous blog post, customers can be so happy, they refer other clients, family and friends. If you are a professional advisor, isn’t that the kind of ringing endorsement you want?

Case Study: A CPA Firm Client Hack Drives Innovation

An accounting firm had recently implemented Siftsortpro.com after one of their large clients had her email hacked while traveling abroad.

The culprits had studied her email subject matter, vernacular and such and derived a way to send a series of emails from her account, to her administrator and broker requesting the transfer of nearly $400,000 over a few weeks time period. A similar task she would due as part of her normal course of business to certain vendors and partners.

While the accounting firm was not directly involved in any way, the partners realized the importance of not sending sensitive client information through their corporate email system. Data breaches can cost a CPA their license to practice.

Cost Savings That Matter
After implementation and training the 13-person firm, they realized an annual savings of $52,800 on postage, envelopes, paper, toner and reduced man-hours.

They increased the productivity of their entire office by streamlining the workflow and securely sharing client documents using Siftsortpro.com and having their clients use Siftsort.com.

“Siftsort saves of time, money and gives us peace of mind knowing that client files are highly secure”, Ross Wisdom, CPA

Everyday consumers are transmitting sensitive personal information to their trusted professionals in an unsecured manner. Its reckless to pass a blank form to a client in email and expect them to fill it out and simply email it back. As crazy as this sounds, it happens annually with my own insurance agent. Of course, I never comply instead using my own products (Siftsort.com) to send her a secure link to safely retrieve the documents from me. But come on? Wake up!

Advisors Can Help Clients Get (and Stay) Organized

Some people have been audited more than once. We all know its a scary thing. A friend of mine had her first, which was a “practice audit”.

She had shredded most of her older financial data, and in January 2003, she had to recreate almost everything from scratch for the audit year. This was because the auditor, who was on his second-ever IRS audit, was looking at everything since there wasn’t a specific problem. Needless to say, this was a tedious, time-consuming, and an unnecessarily stressful experience to have to gather everything again.

Financial advisors and accountants can help their clients get (and stay) organized by asking them to set up a FREE Siftsort.com account to securely organize information regarding their financial data, healthcare, tax-deductible receipts, vehicles and business expenses, dependents and more. This would also help them be ready for tax season or an audit, keeping records easily accessible to help get the maximum tax benefits available.

In the case of my friend, she had to go back to a three banks to get the data on 7 bank accounts for the audit. Plus, she had to pay the banks for all of the copies on top of that.

Now, electronic banking and bill payment simplifies all of that, but keep in mind most banks do not keep online statements for more than 3 years, making you pay a retrieval fee for statements in the later years. Unless you are still getting printed statements, you have no choice but to pay the fees.

With their advisor using a Siftsortpro.com account, they and their clients–using their personal, secure Siftsort.com account–can collaborate securely when making tax or financial decisions, whether through email, chat, fax…anywhere in the world.

Instead of keeping paper copies that can get lost or pile up in files, clients can forward the information to their Siftsort.com account, categorize it in a way that makes sense and easily be able to access the information when needed. Simplifying your life.